Weighing apparatus are known, amongst others, from prior art patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 1,902,512, GB 1481495, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,622,000, and 4,187,945. In these prior art systems generally an overhead conveyer track has a section associated therewith that is independently movable relative to the majority of the overhead track. Weighing devices are operatively connected to the independently movable section. Shackle assemblies for supporting bird or poultry carcasses are suspended for movement along the overhead track by carriers. Each shackle comprises an upper portion, including the carrier, and a lower portion that is relatively movable with respect to the upper portion. The lower portion includes a hook formation for holding a poultry carcass and a supporting slider or wheel for engaging a weighing platform of the independently movable section. When the lower portion of the shackle has engaged the weighing platform, it has slightly been lifted to transfer its entire weight onto the weighing platform, while the upper portion of the shackle remains suspended from the overhead track as the shackles travel therealong.
It is also common for such weighing apparatus either to be associated with a circular conveyer path, as additionally shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,644, or with a linear conveyer path as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,351. It has also been practised to combine such weighing apparatus with transfer stations that transfer chicken or poultry carcasses from one processing line to a subsequent processing line. A transfer station in general is described in patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,404, and although this does not disclose a weighing apparatus combined therewith, it is known that various suppliers, such as Linco and Meyn, offer such transfer stations.
The existing devices are critical with respect to their operating speed. As the speed is increased the reliability and accuracy of the measured weight tends to be compromised. Now that the operating speeds of meat processing systems is continuingly increasing, the weighing apparatus are more and more becoming a limiting element to the operating speed of processing lines. There thus has arisen a need for weighing apparatus that operate with greater accuracy and reliability at an increased speed.
Accordingly it is an aspect of the present invention to propose an improved weighing apparatus for use in conjunction with meat processing equipment or systems, which measures weight more accurately and allows an increased conveyer speed. In a more general sense it is an object of the present invention to at least overcome or ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art. It is also an object of the present invention to at least provide alternative structures which are less cumbersome in manufacture and use and which can be made and used relatively inexpensively. At any rate the present invention is at the very least aimed at offering a useful alternative and contribution to the existing art.